Kings Again Display Supremacy Over Mavs

The Associated Press

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, February 4, 2003

The Dallas Mavericks will go into the All-Star break with the NBA's best record. But they still can't beat the Sacramento Kings.

Keon Clark's high-flying dunk off a missed 3-pointer with 16.5 seconds left gave the Kings a 110-109 victory over the Mavericks on Tuesday night in a thrilling showdown of Western Conference division leaders.

Dallas goes into the break 38-10, four losses fewer than anyone else, but the Mavericks can't escape their 0-3 record against Sacramento and San Antonio. That includes a 29-point loss to the Kings three weeks ago.

"We needed this win to convince everybody we can beat them _ and we didn't do that," Mavericks starter Raja Bell said. "The consolation is that we still have the best record."

The Mavericks felt they lost at the beginning, when the Kings made 13 of their first 17 shots. Sacramento eventually took a 16-point lead in the third quarter.

Sacramento cooled off and Dallas tied it at 64 early in the third quarter. Neither team led by more than six the rest of the way.

Five straight points by Michael Finley, who scored 28, put the Mavericks ahead 107-106 with 57 seconds left. Then Bibby and Nowitzki traded tough jumpers, leaving Dallas still leading by one.

Sacramento's Hedo Turkoglu missed a long 3-pointer and the rebound went straight up. The long, lanky Clark _ who earlier had an amazing one-handed, reverse alley-oop dunk _ caught the ball and slammed it through in one motion.

On Dallas' final possession, Dirk Nowitzki missed a 10-footer in the lane after spinning away from Peja Stojakovic and getting a good look at the basket.

Nowitzki had 28 points, 16 rebounds and five assists for Dallas, which had won four straight and seven of eight.

"It's just a huge win for us," said Kings coach Rick Adelman, who punched the air in celebration when the buzzer sounded. "They kept coming back at us and it seemed like they were making every shot. We stayed with it and got the ball to bounce the right way at the end."

Lakers 97, Pacers 94

At Indianapolis, Kobe Bryant scored 35 points and Shaquille O'Neal fought off foul trouble for 19 points and 12 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth in a row.

The Lakers are at .500 for the first time since they were 2-2 on Nov. 3. Following a Christmas loss to Sacramento, the Lakers were 11-19. Since then, they are 12-4 and are only 2 1/2 games behind Houston for the eighth seed in the West.

Knicks 105, Clippers 92

At New York, Latrell Sprewell broke the NBA record for most 3-pointers in a game without a miss, going 9-for-9 from behind the arc.

Sprewell broke the mark of 8-for-8 held by Jeff Hornacek, Sam Perkins and Steve Smith, making consecutive 3s midway through the fourth quarter to break the record after a 19-point lead had shrunk to nine.

Sprewell finished with a season-high 38 points, shooting 14-for-19 overall. The crowd called for him to take another 3 in the closing minutes, but he did not oblige the one time he had a brief open look with about 35 seconds left.

Wizards 93, Cavaliers 84

At Washington, Michael Jordan scored 27 points in 43 minutes and the Washington Wizards won their second straight despite the absence of leading scorer Jerry Stackhouse.

It was the second successive game for Jordan with a high total of points and minutes. He scored 45 in 44 minutes in a victory over New Orleans on Saturday.

Raptors 98, Bucks 95

At Milwaukee, Vince Carter scored 25 points and blocked a potential tying 3-pointer by Ray Allen just before the buzzer as Toronto won for the fourth time in five games.

At Denver, Juwan Howard scored 30 points and Chris Whitney hit five free throws in the final 20.6 seconds of overtime as the Nuggets won consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 8-10.

Whitney also made the 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime. Replays seemed to show Whitney's foot was on the 3-point line when he released the ball.

Donyell Marshall led Chicago, which owns the NBA's worst road record at 2-25, with 21 points. It was the second straight night the Bulls lost in overtime. Phoenix defeated Chicago 115-111 on Monday.

Trail Blazers 96, Magic 89

At Orlando, Fla., Scottie Pippen recorded his first double-double of the year with 25 points and 17 rebounds as Portland defeated Orlando for the eighth straight time.

The game was delayed for several minutes when the shot-clock buzzer became stuck following a violation on Portland with 2:13 remaining in the game. After the buzzer was fixed, all scoreboards and shot clocks then malfunctioned, forcing the arena's public address announcer to call out the time remaining in the game and on the shot clock.